Our little village in the middle of nowhere has recently picked up two relatively new Vietnamese restaurants. The first is Saigon, a converted Chinese place, that apparently has the same ownership. If you look at the reviews on Yelp, you'll see that the reviews aren't all that great. I've been there, and thought that the pho (Vietnamese soup noodles, with a killer broth) was alright, though I'm no expert on pho. The spring rolls are OK, not great. The rest of the food that I've tried is pedestrian. I don't go out of my way to head out there, so there's not much point in talking more about this place.
However, the second place, Xinh Xinh Cafe, has become a regular spot for me. To be honest, I haven't tried the pho out there. Part of it is because it's summer, and it's been hot. But the real reason is that I love the Bahn Mi. Bahn Mi is a Vietnamese hoagie. At Xinh Xinh, they come with lightly pickled carrots and daikon, onion, slices of cucumber, cilantro, and jalapeno. There's a little mayo on there (I think that it's cut with fish sacue, not positive). And then there's the meat. My favorite is the combo. It's got pate, headcheese, ham, and some cold cuts that I'm not super familiar with (pork, based, I'm sure). And it's awesome. It's meaty and just plain tasty. There are a number of other meat choices, including one with sardines (sort of like a Vietnamese sloppy joe, which is great). I swear, I can't go a week without dropping in for a bahn mi. But the rest of the food is really good, as well. The one thing that I'd say wasn't top notch was the bread, which was OK, but not great. If they could get par baked bread in there, it would be phenomenal. But what is phenomenal is the price - sandwiches for $3.95.
One thing you gotta try is the spring roll (I've seen them called summer rolls in other restaurants). These things are great. Rice paper wrapper (not fried), and filled with lettuce, Thai basil, cilantro, cucumber, and carrots, and either shrimp or pork. And a secret ingredient. A "cigar" or fried egg roll wrapper (the thin kind). It adds an incredible crunch to the spring roll. They serve it with a peanut/hoisin sauce (basically chunky peanut butter and hosin). And it's definitely worth it.
The fried spring rolls and egg rolls are all solid, and come with nice dipping sauces. The wings were pretty tasty, but were tiny, and not worth the price. But in addition to the spring rolls, there's one killer app that you have to try: the Nataing. Basically, it's ground pork, cooked with chilis and coconut milk. And it's incredible. They give you sliced baguette and shrimp crackers to eat with the meat.
They're also doing cold noodles (no broth), that come a bowl, above a bunch of veggies (sprouts, cilantro, Thai basil), and under your choice of grilled meats. It comes with a nice sauce (fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, and carrots, I think) that you can pour over everything, before you go to town. Again, great crunch, great fresh taste, and a lot of flavors that are just fun to eat.
Now, this may be sacrilege, but I think that I like bahn mi better than the 'po boys that I was getting down in New Orleans last week. I didn't hit up all of the great 'po boy shacks in the city, but I've had a few of them from a couple of the good places, and it just didn't compare to the flavors and freshness of the bahn mi over at Xinh Xinh. I'm sure that I'll find a place in NOLA that will do bahn mi, but in Champaign, Xinh Xinh is the place.
Update 07/08/09: Wednesday is Pho Happy Hour. $5 for a bowl of pho. Plus, the weather was cool and rainy. Perfect for a bowl of hot soup and noodles. Broth was nice - more spice notes than beef. Nice clove and star anise flavor. The meat was all cooked nicely. And the veggies were fresh. No argument from me. The other thing I tried was the beef skewer bahn mi. Awesome. Instead of the normal veggies, it had a nice papaya salad (with strong ginger notes) and a chili sauce that wasn't too spicy. Really good stuff.
-foodgeek
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Kitchen Happenings: Summertime and the Livin's Easy
Summer's here in full force. Down in NOLA, it was 95 and humid all week. And I get back to Illinois, and the weather's, well 91 and humid. But, I'm bringing back something from my trip to NOLA that is a heck of a cooler.
One thing that I've been learning about cocktails is that when you do it right, you end up with a great, balanced drink that isn't too sweet, too sour, or too bitter, but just right. At one of my great meals down there (at Boucherie, which will be getting a write-up), I had a perfect summer cocktail, a Pimm's Cup, which is based on a British liqueur, Pimm's No. 1.
Pimm's No. 1 is a gin-based liqueur, that's infused with some spice and fruit. I've never really had it before, but my exposure was phenomenal. The version of the Pimm's cup at Boucherie was a little bit of a deviation of the classic cocktail. The classic version builds off of 3 parts lemon soda to 1 part Pimm's No. 1, with a little lemon and cucumber garnish. Over at Boucherie, they take a couple liberties with the original recipe, but make a great cocktail. They muddle cucumber, add lemon and a mint-infused syrup, pour in the Pimm's, and then top with ginger ale. Add a cucumber garnish, and you're good to go. Great cocktail - light, not too sweet, a little tart, and a great flavor with the cucumber. You can drink these things all day.
So, what to do when I get home. I don't plan on buying a bottle of Pimm's, so there's the issue of the liquor or liqueur to use. But you can start with the combo of citrus and cucumber. My current take on a summer cooler:
The liquor is the place to start. Since this little experiment was NOLA-inspired, I had to keep it local. Sazerac Rye. There's a definite strong flavor from the rye, but it's nice and gives some body to the drink. But too much rye can overpower the rest of the drink. So, a little bit of rum adds a little extra kick to the drink without overpowering things. And that's the base. Of course, you have to keep the cucumber, and I've always liked how limes taste, so that keeps the flavors on point. But, the Pimm's has some extra depth of flavor. The rye helps. But I decided to go with some more fruit, in this case orange and pineapple juice. I also liked the mint kick that the Boucherie version had, so I went with some mint syrup that I had on hand. I didn't have good ginger ale on hand, but had some lemon-lime soda, so that was good enough.
Here's the rundown:
Get a pint glass.
Dice 2 slices of cucumber (about 1/2" thick).
1/2 lime, cut into 4 pieces.
Muddle the cucumber and lime in the pint glass, and add ice.
Add mint syrup (maybe 1 oz.), one shot rye, and one shot rum.
Add about 2 oz. orange and 2 oz. pineapple
Top with lemon-lime soda.
You can definitely scale this up, and make a pitcher at a time, though I'd add chilled soda to each individual serving, to keep the fizziness. This cocktail is pretty good as is, but I think that muddling fresh mint may be a better choice, so as to keep it from getting too sweet.
In any case, I'l be playing around with some other possibilities, and I'll try to report the hits.
-foodgeek
One thing that I've been learning about cocktails is that when you do it right, you end up with a great, balanced drink that isn't too sweet, too sour, or too bitter, but just right. At one of my great meals down there (at Boucherie, which will be getting a write-up), I had a perfect summer cocktail, a Pimm's Cup, which is based on a British liqueur, Pimm's No. 1.
Pimm's No. 1 is a gin-based liqueur, that's infused with some spice and fruit. I've never really had it before, but my exposure was phenomenal. The version of the Pimm's cup at Boucherie was a little bit of a deviation of the classic cocktail. The classic version builds off of 3 parts lemon soda to 1 part Pimm's No. 1, with a little lemon and cucumber garnish. Over at Boucherie, they take a couple liberties with the original recipe, but make a great cocktail. They muddle cucumber, add lemon and a mint-infused syrup, pour in the Pimm's, and then top with ginger ale. Add a cucumber garnish, and you're good to go. Great cocktail - light, not too sweet, a little tart, and a great flavor with the cucumber. You can drink these things all day.
So, what to do when I get home. I don't plan on buying a bottle of Pimm's, so there's the issue of the liquor or liqueur to use. But you can start with the combo of citrus and cucumber. My current take on a summer cooler:
The liquor is the place to start. Since this little experiment was NOLA-inspired, I had to keep it local. Sazerac Rye. There's a definite strong flavor from the rye, but it's nice and gives some body to the drink. But too much rye can overpower the rest of the drink. So, a little bit of rum adds a little extra kick to the drink without overpowering things. And that's the base. Of course, you have to keep the cucumber, and I've always liked how limes taste, so that keeps the flavors on point. But, the Pimm's has some extra depth of flavor. The rye helps. But I decided to go with some more fruit, in this case orange and pineapple juice. I also liked the mint kick that the Boucherie version had, so I went with some mint syrup that I had on hand. I didn't have good ginger ale on hand, but had some lemon-lime soda, so that was good enough.
Here's the rundown:
Get a pint glass.
Dice 2 slices of cucumber (about 1/2" thick).
1/2 lime, cut into 4 pieces.
Muddle the cucumber and lime in the pint glass, and add ice.
Add mint syrup (maybe 1 oz.), one shot rye, and one shot rum.
Add about 2 oz. orange and 2 oz. pineapple
Top with lemon-lime soda.
You can definitely scale this up, and make a pitcher at a time, though I'd add chilled soda to each individual serving, to keep the fizziness. This cocktail is pretty good as is, but I think that muddling fresh mint may be a better choice, so as to keep it from getting too sweet.
In any case, I'l be playing around with some other possibilities, and I'll try to report the hits.
-foodgeek
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Restaurant Review: This Lil' Piggy... (Part I): The Publican
A little while back, I made my pilgrimage to The Publican, a restaurant on Fulton Market in Chicago that is well-renowned at a national level, and has won awards for it's design. And sure enough, the place was cool has hell. Globe lights coming down from the ceiling. Cool wood chairs with high backs, and matching tables. And the most noticeable things are the gigantic piantings of different heritage breeds of pigs. Definitely a talking point. The seating was sort of communal - just a long bench, and you got seated next to other parties. And in the middle were some round, 2-tiered tables w/ no chairs, where people waiting for their tables could get a brew. This place was a little casual - but it was still a place where people were spending $40/person. We were slightly underdressed in jeans and a polo or jeans and an untucked dress shirt. But not completely out of place. The place had a nice energy to it, a little buzz from the conversation, but the crowd was older. Most of the folks looked to be in their 40's or 50's. But it may have been the 5:30pm Saturday time... a little on the early side for the younger crowd.
But to be honest, I'm not as worried about the crowd, the ambience, renown, or design. I'm there because I've read great things about Paul Kahan, the chef/owner, and The Publican's devotion to all things pig. So, me and CJ wandered over, and we sat down to devour as much as we could physically handle. It was real, and it was spectacular.
First of all, The Publican is a place molded in the gastropub theme. You have a great selection of alcohol, done with a vision. In this case, it's good beer. And then you put great food around it. In this case, it's pig, done with a blend of European tradition, with some American twists thrown in. Pretty much everything that we had was good, and some of it was spectacular. We pretty much ignored the seafood, and went basically all pig.
The first thing that came out was just plain indulgent. Some really nice french fries. And two sunny-side eggs on top. Cut the eggs and let the yolk run all over the fries. Awesome. Love runny egg yolks on just about anything...
Next up, a trio of cured hams. The folks at Publican have a number of choices, including some really nice American ham, including hams from Kentucky and Iowa. The chef's choices we got were the Spanish Serrano ham, the Italian Prosciutto, and a American country ham. Both of the European hams were nice - creamy texture, nice clean flavor, and just what you'd expect. These were the high-dollar hams, and worth the price. Now, the country ham was noticeably cheaper, but I actually liked it the best. My comment was that if you blind-folded me and didn't tell me what I was eating, that I'd like the country ham the best. It was a little sweet, and had some nice, deep spice notes going on (clove, was what I was thinking). Just great stuff.
Similarly, the charcuterie plate was just darned good. It came with some pickled asparagus, some cornichon, and some thing else that I have no idea what it was (green, looked a little like grapes crossed with olives). All were nice. And it came with three types of mustard. The pork confit (I think), and pork pie (basically, a little 1.5" radius, 1.5" tall quarter-wedge with a nice pie crust, with some cured pork and pork fat in there) were solid. The house cured Chorizo (nicely done, good spice) was really enjoyable. But what stole the show was the head cheese and the squab and fois gras terrine. The head cheese was meaty, and had a nice solid gelatin going on. It stayed together until the gelatin melted in your mouth, and the meat was noticably meat. Nice flavor. Great product. The squab and fois gras terrine was just decadent. Creamy, rich, a little salty. Like I said - not everything was spectacular, but everything was good, and there were some definitely high notes.
The next thing that came out were the rillettes. I had no idea what a rillette was, until the server explained it. Basically, it's a slow-cooked cut of meat, and traditionally cooked in it's own fat (like a confit, only it's shredded or cut before cooking), and then cooled. It all solidifies, and then you spread it on toast. It's ridiculously good at Publican. They put on a finely chopped pickled rhubarb on top for a little tang and crunch. I love the old school preparation. Back in the day, if you pack something in fat, you did it so that it wouldn't spoil. Today we have refrigeration, so now you do it because it's awesome.
The one thing that I had overlooked in the starters was the pork rinds, and in retrospect, may have eschewed the fries (though they were darned good) and went with the pork rinds. But what we got was all good, and the rillettes were awesome.
Then came the entrees. Now, I guess that I lied about going all pig. I couldn't resist the Basque stew. It was essentially a slightly spicy fish stew (a lot like bouillabaisse), with a lot of fennel, some orange, and an assortment of shrimp, clams, mussels, crab, octopus, and salt cod. All of the fish was cooked well (not overcooked, which is easy to do in these dishes), and the cod was spectacularly tender. It's served with a few slabs of toasted bread and rouille (a spicy mayo). You slather some rouille on the bread, and then ladle the soup and seafood over the bread. You work on the seafood, while the bread soaks up the broth. Then, you eat the bread, and get a nice meal. If you told me it was just bouillabaisse, I'd have believed you. I think that what made it "Basque" was some saffron and orange (and maybe Spanish paprika) and the salt cod. But it was good.
But to finish off, we definitely went back to swine, with the potee, which is essentially a dish all cooked in one vessel. I'm not sure if the version at Publican was a true version, but it was great. Ours came with three choice versions of pork. The first was a very nice smoked sausage - meaty, smoky, and a salty. No complaints. The next was a cut of braised pork shoulder, which was incredibly tender and tasty. The last cut was pork tenderloin. Tender, reasonably tasty, and incredibly uninteresting. All of it came on top of roast veggies - brussel sprouts, baby turnips, baby carrots, zucchini, and a little aioli. The veggies were nicely cooked, and the aioli was a great touch. I guess that I was hoping for a little cut of pork belly or maybe something like a trotter. But all in all it was a nice entree.
I had to add one side, that looked incredible. Italian-style greens. I think that it was collard greens, cooked with some ham, and then finished with some balsamic. The greens were really good. And what took it over the top was the breaded, fried hominy that was on top. Never would have figured it. Crispy, then dense and flavorful. Great addition to the greens, and a top-notch side item.
Looking back at the menu, a couple nice, bold red wines may have been the way to go. But the focus of Publican was beer. So I rolled with beer. I went with a Great Lakes Brewing Co. brew - the porter on draft. Nice, dark, complex coffee/chocolate notes. A little sweet and bitter at the end. And it went great with the food. CJ stuck w/ the iced tea - he had almost died from drinking the night before, and wasn't about to go with the hair of the dog.
But we gorged ourselves. I walked out of there wondering why I ate so much. But the answer was obvious. The food was awesome. This is high end cooking, and there's a reason why people rave about this place. If you get a chance to go, you should definitely go. Have a nice beer, have some rillettes, have some pork rinds, and have a great time.
So, why is this post only Part I? Because I had to follow this up with a trip to Cochon, in New Orleans. And what is Cochon? Well, "cochon" is "pig" in French. I said that Publican leaned toward European-style preparations, with some American twists. On the other Cochon is southern cooking, with a little bit of an European twist. And naturally, I had to see the difference for myself.
-foodgeek
But to be honest, I'm not as worried about the crowd, the ambience, renown, or design. I'm there because I've read great things about Paul Kahan, the chef/owner, and The Publican's devotion to all things pig. So, me and CJ wandered over, and we sat down to devour as much as we could physically handle. It was real, and it was spectacular.
First of all, The Publican is a place molded in the gastropub theme. You have a great selection of alcohol, done with a vision. In this case, it's good beer. And then you put great food around it. In this case, it's pig, done with a blend of European tradition, with some American twists thrown in. Pretty much everything that we had was good, and some of it was spectacular. We pretty much ignored the seafood, and went basically all pig.
The first thing that came out was just plain indulgent. Some really nice french fries. And two sunny-side eggs on top. Cut the eggs and let the yolk run all over the fries. Awesome. Love runny egg yolks on just about anything...
Next up, a trio of cured hams. The folks at Publican have a number of choices, including some really nice American ham, including hams from Kentucky and Iowa. The chef's choices we got were the Spanish Serrano ham, the Italian Prosciutto, and a American country ham. Both of the European hams were nice - creamy texture, nice clean flavor, and just what you'd expect. These were the high-dollar hams, and worth the price. Now, the country ham was noticeably cheaper, but I actually liked it the best. My comment was that if you blind-folded me and didn't tell me what I was eating, that I'd like the country ham the best. It was a little sweet, and had some nice, deep spice notes going on (clove, was what I was thinking). Just great stuff.
Similarly, the charcuterie plate was just darned good. It came with some pickled asparagus, some cornichon, and some thing else that I have no idea what it was (green, looked a little like grapes crossed with olives). All were nice. And it came with three types of mustard. The pork confit (I think), and pork pie (basically, a little 1.5" radius, 1.5" tall quarter-wedge with a nice pie crust, with some cured pork and pork fat in there) were solid. The house cured Chorizo (nicely done, good spice) was really enjoyable. But what stole the show was the head cheese and the squab and fois gras terrine. The head cheese was meaty, and had a nice solid gelatin going on. It stayed together until the gelatin melted in your mouth, and the meat was noticably meat. Nice flavor. Great product. The squab and fois gras terrine was just decadent. Creamy, rich, a little salty. Like I said - not everything was spectacular, but everything was good, and there were some definitely high notes.
The next thing that came out were the rillettes. I had no idea what a rillette was, until the server explained it. Basically, it's a slow-cooked cut of meat, and traditionally cooked in it's own fat (like a confit, only it's shredded or cut before cooking), and then cooled. It all solidifies, and then you spread it on toast. It's ridiculously good at Publican. They put on a finely chopped pickled rhubarb on top for a little tang and crunch. I love the old school preparation. Back in the day, if you pack something in fat, you did it so that it wouldn't spoil. Today we have refrigeration, so now you do it because it's awesome.
The one thing that I had overlooked in the starters was the pork rinds, and in retrospect, may have eschewed the fries (though they were darned good) and went with the pork rinds. But what we got was all good, and the rillettes were awesome.
Then came the entrees. Now, I guess that I lied about going all pig. I couldn't resist the Basque stew. It was essentially a slightly spicy fish stew (a lot like bouillabaisse), with a lot of fennel, some orange, and an assortment of shrimp, clams, mussels, crab, octopus, and salt cod. All of the fish was cooked well (not overcooked, which is easy to do in these dishes), and the cod was spectacularly tender. It's served with a few slabs of toasted bread and rouille (a spicy mayo). You slather some rouille on the bread, and then ladle the soup and seafood over the bread. You work on the seafood, while the bread soaks up the broth. Then, you eat the bread, and get a nice meal. If you told me it was just bouillabaisse, I'd have believed you. I think that what made it "Basque" was some saffron and orange (and maybe Spanish paprika) and the salt cod. But it was good.
But to finish off, we definitely went back to swine, with the potee, which is essentially a dish all cooked in one vessel. I'm not sure if the version at Publican was a true version, but it was great. Ours came with three choice versions of pork. The first was a very nice smoked sausage - meaty, smoky, and a salty. No complaints. The next was a cut of braised pork shoulder, which was incredibly tender and tasty. The last cut was pork tenderloin. Tender, reasonably tasty, and incredibly uninteresting. All of it came on top of roast veggies - brussel sprouts, baby turnips, baby carrots, zucchini, and a little aioli. The veggies were nicely cooked, and the aioli was a great touch. I guess that I was hoping for a little cut of pork belly or maybe something like a trotter. But all in all it was a nice entree.
I had to add one side, that looked incredible. Italian-style greens. I think that it was collard greens, cooked with some ham, and then finished with some balsamic. The greens were really good. And what took it over the top was the breaded, fried hominy that was on top. Never would have figured it. Crispy, then dense and flavorful. Great addition to the greens, and a top-notch side item.
Looking back at the menu, a couple nice, bold red wines may have been the way to go. But the focus of Publican was beer. So I rolled with beer. I went with a Great Lakes Brewing Co. brew - the porter on draft. Nice, dark, complex coffee/chocolate notes. A little sweet and bitter at the end. And it went great with the food. CJ stuck w/ the iced tea - he had almost died from drinking the night before, and wasn't about to go with the hair of the dog.
But we gorged ourselves. I walked out of there wondering why I ate so much. But the answer was obvious. The food was awesome. This is high end cooking, and there's a reason why people rave about this place. If you get a chance to go, you should definitely go. Have a nice beer, have some rillettes, have some pork rinds, and have a great time.
So, why is this post only Part I? Because I had to follow this up with a trip to Cochon, in New Orleans. And what is Cochon? Well, "cochon" is "pig" in French. I said that Publican leaned toward European-style preparations, with some American twists. On the other Cochon is southern cooking, with a little bit of an European twist. And naturally, I had to see the difference for myself.
-foodgeek
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